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Before Ingrid Golleher, a forewoman for Skanska USA Building in Portland, entered the construction industry eight years ago, she had heard how many men in the trades viewed women co-workers. They were considered weak and emotional 鈥� i.e., not fit for a jobsite. They also were assumed to be lesbians 鈥� and if not, then they needed to become conquests.

Then, when Golleher began working on jobsites, the stories came to life. She became a target of harassment.

She’s frequently pursued by male co-workers on jobsites, she said, even if they know she’s in a relationship. 鈥溾�極h, if you’re straight,’鈥� she says co-workers have asked in a slimy tone, then, 鈥溾�榣ike we should go out.’鈥�

鈥淣o, I don’t want to go out with you! I’m here to work,鈥� she said in response.

Construction has long been dominated by men. Women comprise only 10.9 percent of the construction workforce, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. On jobsites, that number is even smaller 鈥� less than 1 percent. That disparity has fostered persistence of a culture in which women are harassed, bullied or simply ignored on jobsites.

Harassment is defined by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) as unwelcome conduct based on race, color, sex, national origin, age (40 or older), disability, or genetic information. Unlawful behavior includes but is not limited to: offensive jokes, slurs, name-calling, intimidation, ridicule, insults, and interference with one’s work performance.

Anne Pfleger, president of the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC), said she’s heard of experiences like Golleher’s from women in all parts of the country.

鈥淲hen you pull back and look at the root of it,鈥� she said, 鈥渋t’s the culture of the company.鈥�

Pfleger suspects that in the 1980s, ’90s and early 2000s, women were mistreated a lot more, which hurt recruitment of women to join the industry. Only in the past five years or so, Pfleger said, have women come forward and become more vocal about being mistreated.

Harassment on the jobsite

Golleher said stereotypes still follow her to every jobsite. She constantly must prove that she’s not weak either physically or mentally, and fend off ceaseless advances by co-workers, she said. Opportunities for career growth rarely are presented, according to Golleher.

鈥淵ou have to throw yourself into things and ask for forgiveness later,鈥� she said, because nobody is going to say, 鈥溾�極h go ahead and go up there, Ingrid. Go ahead and do it.’ You have to take it.鈥�

On a Skanska jobsite in 2014, while working as a carpenter’s apprentice, Golleher was given one of those rare opportunities: she learned to operate a forklift. But after driving a forklift for a year on the same jobsite without incident, one occurred.

A male co-worker ran over to Golleher, she said, and hyperventilated to the point that he needed to bend over to catch his breath.

鈥溾�楾hat’s the first time I’ve ever seen a woman on a forklift,’鈥� she said he said with a demeaning laugh.

Last year, as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, Golleher took a journeyman carpenter position at a Sellen Construction jobsite in Seattle. She was the only woman on the crew. In fact, that bothered one man so much that he quit, according to Golleher.

One time on the jobsite, a crane operator sent another co-worker over to Golleher with a container of water and said in a sly manner that she 鈥渓ooked thirsty 鈥� and needed to have some of his water.

鈥淚 was so busy that I didn’t even take into consideration what that meant,鈥� she said, 鈥渁nd then later when I got home, I was like wait a minute, what the —-鈥�

Many of the crew members’ behavior eventually went beyond typical interest and felt more like 鈥減reying,鈥� Golleher said. After just two weeks, she quit.

鈥淚 was afraid for my safety at that point,鈥� she said. 鈥�(I was) afraid to be alone without the guy that I was working with because I wasn’t sure if someone was going to attack me and try to get me alone.鈥�

The superintendent who hired Golleher was never around to see what was happening, she said, so she didn’t even have an opportunity to inform him why she was leaving.

鈥淚 wouldn’t want any women to go up there,鈥� she said.

A culture in need of change

In response to Golleher’s allegations, Sellen Construction stated, 鈥淎s soon as we were made aware of Ingrid’s experience through this article, we reached out to her to hear her experience and initiate an investigation. Sellen is committed to building teams and places that are safe for all employees.鈥�

On a different jobsite in Oregon in 2013, Golleher was the only woman crew member. Her foreman at the time would repeatedly pull her aside, she said, in attempts to lure her. Later he started sending texts such as: 鈥淥h. I’m in the bushes behind you.鈥�

In this instance, Golleher told her Skanska superintendent about the foreman, and he was transferred to a different jobsite.

Upon being informed of Golleher’s experiences on Skanska jobsites, General Manager Tim Johnson stated, 鈥淚 am deeply disappointed to hear of her negative experiences as a woman in construction. We have no tolerance for harassment of any kind.鈥�

鈥淚 stand by Ingrid,鈥� he said, 鈥渨ho was brave enough to come forward and share her story. Once I learned of these unfortunate incidents, I launched a full investigation into every allegation that pertains to our operations.鈥�

The company could not reveal the investigation results due to its privacy policy regarding personal actions but stated that all of the allegations had been addressed.

Golleher acknowledged that she could’ve reported the harassment sooner.

鈥淚 know the resources,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 know that I could have called. It’s just not really like that. It’s more you gotta take care of yourself because there isn’t anybody else going to take care of it for you.鈥�

That belief is typical among women workers, Pfleger said.

鈥淯nfortunately, that’s a lot of what I hear from the women when they have situations like that,鈥� she said. 鈥淪ometimes they have to pick their battles, and if it’s not serious, they’ll let it go and just keep moving because the repercussions are much worse than if they said anything.鈥�

In cases of harassment, three out four individuals never report the experiences to a supervisor, manager or union representative, according to a September 2020 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Oftentimes, the reason is fear of retaliation or another adverse outcome.

鈥淏ut we shouldn’t be thinking like that,鈥� Pfleger said. 鈥淚 don’t care if you’re a woman, man or whatever. You should not have to worry about getting harassed and bullied and demeaned and all that kind of stuff. You know you’re on a jobsite to do a job.鈥�

Confrontation challenges

Engineering-News Record in 2018 surveyed 1,248 architects, builders and engineers from the U.S., Canada or overseas. Respondents were allowed to be anonymous, and 66 percent reported experiencing sexual harassment or gender bias on jobsites or in the workplace, and nearly 60 percent stated they had witnessed it. In these cases, harassment mainly consisted of inappropriate personal requests, questions, jokes or innuendos.

On at least one occasion, however, harassment on a construction jobsite escalated to a deadly degree. In 2017, after days of allegedly suffering unreported harassment, Outi Hicks, a 32-year-old woman union carpenter apprentice, was beaten and killed by a male co-worker, Aaron Lopez, on a jobsite (involving neither Skanska nor Golleher) in Fresno, California.

鈥淚f one person had just gone up to deflect the situation, it would’ve turned out much differently,鈥� Pfleger said.

The murder of Hicks (Lopez in 2020 was convicted and sentenced to 15 years to life in prison) triggered a shock wave. National campaigns were started in attempts to stop jobsite harassment and promote intervention training. Nevertheless, Golleher said she’s never been offered bystander prevention training at any jobsite where she has worked.

But there are challenges. Workers usually are not around the same group of people throughout a project. Tradespeople come and go as different types of work are performed. Oftentimes, workers are all brought together with limited introductions. That can inhibit confrontation.

鈥淚 think people want to try to say something or try to stop it but don’t want to get involved because they don’t want to have a target on their back,鈥� Pfleger said.

Opportunities to be better

But Golleher, instead of just saying 鈥渘ext time, next time鈥� in her head, has started confronting harassment more often, she said. Recently on a jobsite, a male co-worker 鈥� who Golleher was told had slept with another woman working on the same jobsite 鈥� made an advance toward Golleher. She told the man his behavior shouldn’t be tolerated, she said.

鈥淪omebody needs to say this stuff, so I guess I’m going to be the one to do it,鈥� Golleher said.

However, Pfleger added how important it is for high-level executives and even company owners to visit jobsites, interact with tradespeople and ask them 鈥渉ow things are going.鈥�

While the construction industry in the past decade has suffered from a lack of skilled labor, the number of women working on jobsites has barely ticked above a quarter of a percent. While women make up 47 percent of the labor force overall, only 1.25 percent are in construction, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

鈥淲e could have been much further along if we didn’t have these issues,鈥� Pfleger said in reference to harassment. 鈥淭he key here 鈥� is getting (women) into the industry but then also retaining them. Because once they come in, then you want to make sure we’re able to set them up, so they stay in the industry.鈥�

Johnson indicated that more must be done to ensure that women feel safe on jobsites.

鈥淎s leaders, we must change this culture within the industry and have open and honest dialogue about the challenges women face in the workplace,鈥� he said.